Nineteen months after officially quitting judo for mixed martial arts, Ishii recorded his first win this past weekend with a first-round armbar submission of kickboxer Tafa Misipati at a show in New Zealand, a MMA news site reports. The victory evens Ishii's professional MMA record at 1-1.

Ishii won a gold medal for Japan in judo at the 2008 Olympics. Soon after he announced that he would enter professional MMA. His credentials made him a highly sought after free agent -- the Ultimate Fighting Championship courted Ishii heavily and was close to signing him, but he opted for a more lucrative deal to compete for World Victory Road, which runs the Sengoku Raiden Championships promotion in Japan.

World Victory Road hoped to push Ishii as the next great Japanese fighter, but he lost a decision in his debut against the popular Hidehiko Yoshida on New Year's Eve. Against the veteran Yoshida -- himself a Olympic judo champ in 1992 -- Ishii's inexperience showed with an unrefined stand-up game and lack of endurance as the fight wore on.

Here's video of his last fight. It looks like a really small venue. I'm pretty sure I can see a basketball backboard in the background. Not surprisingly Ishii dominated in the clinch and on the ground.

It looks like Ishii's management is now doing it right. Throwing him to a veteran with similar core skills like Yoshida was a mistake, albeit likely a lucrative one. Letting him fight progressively harder opponents and working his way up is a better way to go. The other guy was out of his league, though.

It seems like most times I see an event involving New Zealanders, whether the event is in New Zealand or not, there's Maori drum playing. I realize Maoris make up almost 15% of the population and I enjoy the drums. I'm not being critical of the drums.

I'm just curious if the drums are ubiquitous in NZ. Does the 85+% of the population that isn't Maori truly embrace the drums, is it a branding/tourism thing to impress foreigners, or something else entirely?